Tim Burton Slammed Over Comments About All-White Cast Of ‘Miss Peregrine’s’

Tim Burton answered a question about film diversity in potentially the worst way possible during a recent interview, and now the director is getting called out for it online. Asked why his latest film, 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children,' has a predominantly white cast, Tim's response was incredibly ignorant.

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October 2, 2016 5:21PM EDT
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Helena Bonham Carter and Tim BurtonBFI Film Festival Awards, London, Britain - 20 Oct 2012
(L-R) Nell Burton, Tim Burton, Billy-Ray Burton and Levi the dog attend the Tim Burton Close Encounter red carpet during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 23, 2021 in Rome, Italy.Tim Burton Close Encounter - 16th Rome Film Fest 2021, Italy - 23 Oct 2021
Tim Burton, Helena Bonham-Carter Filmmaker Tim Burton, left, and his wife Helena Bonham-Carter, pose as they arrive for the opening of his exhibition, a retrospective of his work, in ParisFrance Tim Burton, Paris, France

“Nowadays, people are talking about it more,” Tim Burton, 58, said regarding film diversity. “Things either call for things, or they don’t. I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct. Like, okay, let’s have an Asian child and a black. I used to get more offended by that than just… I grew up watching blaxploitation movies, right? And I said, that’s great. I didn’t go like, okay, there should be more white people in these movies.”

Oh boy. Tim was being interviewed by Bustle about Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, a fantasy film about magical kids, who all happened to be played by white actors. Somehow, not a single child of a different race happened to have peculiar powers! The rest of the cast is white, save for Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the film’s villain. Needless to say, Tim’s unfathomably ignorant answer about his lack of diversity in his films left fans on Twitter shocked and outraged:

https://twitter.com/iamroxxyhaze/status/782375729900027905

https://twitter.com/benschwartzy/status/781700055975723008

https://twitter.com/julieklausner/status/781590231636144129

https://twitter.com/a_frances34/status/782671422376337408

‘Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children’ — See Pics From The Movie

Of the 36 films under Tim’s belt, Samuel appears to be the first prominent character of color ever cast. Previous supporting characters include Jim Brown in Mars Attacks! and Billy Dee Williams in Batman, or Deep Roy in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For someone with a track record of filmmaking as stellar as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Sweeney Todd, among so many others, it’s utterly shocking that there hasn’t been more diversity in his casting!

HollywoodLifers, are you shocked by Tim’s comments about diversity in casting? Tell us in the comments!